Udoka expected to rejoin Spurs today

The Spurs are expected to announced today that veteran free-agent forward Ime Udoka, who played for the club in 2007-08 and 2008-09, will be re-joining the team.

After waiving second-year guard-forward Danny Green on Tuesday, the Spurs dropped one player under the 13-player minimum mandated by the collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union.

Though they had two weeks to sign a 13th, Udoka is expected to join them no later than Friday at home against the Mavericks.

A hard-nosed defender capable of guarding small forwards and power forwards, Udoka averaged 5.8 points and 3.1 rebounds in his first season with the Spurs. He was a solid contributor in their Western Conference semifinals victory over the Hornets.

Udoka’s playing time and averages dipped in 2008-09, when he played in only 67 games and averaged 4.3 points and grabbed 2.8 rebounds.

Udoka is expected to sign for the seven-year veteran minimum of $1.146 million.

The Spurs’ player payroll after Udoka’s addition will stand at $68.45 million, $1.86 million below the luxury tax ceiling.

Winded Bonner delivers: Matt Bonner had blown past the 30-minute mark midway through the fourth quarter of the Spurs’ 106-97 victory over Orlando on Monday, and the coaching staff was becoming concerned.

At about the time Gregg Popovich was making a move to get Antonio McDyess out of the game, assistant Mike Budenholzer leaned in with this counsel: “Matty’s gassed, too.”

Popovich instead went with his first inclination, had Tim Duncan replace McDyess and kept a winded Bonner on the floor. Nine seconds later, Bonner hit a 27-footer from the top of the arc, his fourth of the night, to break an 83-83 tie and make Popovich look like a genius.

It turns out Budenolzer wasn’t wrong, either.

“I was tired,” Bonner admitted Tuesday. “That’s obviously more minutes than I’m used to playing. But it’s a big game, and you’ve got the adrenaline that gets you through.”

In the end, Bonner was on the floor for 36:15, only the third time in four-plus seasons he led the team in minutes. He followed it with his longest postgame ice bath of the season.

Foul mood: Popovich had to give personal instruction to two rookies in Monday’s game about the administration of intentional fouls.

Tiago Splitter played just 10 seconds, the final 10 of the first half, when Popovich wanted him to take a foul once the clock got under five seconds. Splitter tried to grab Jameer Nelson as he crossed midcourt but missed, and Nelson beat the buzzer with a 22-footer.

On Orlando’s final possession of the third quarter, it was Gary Neal who got an earful from Popovich after he intentionally fouled Chris Duhon instead of Dwight Howard, the challenged free-thrower Popovich had wanted him to hack.